Volnek

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Summary

Volnek was a descendant of the Sodan Jaffa who found their freedom from the Goa'uld 5,000 years ago. (9.08 "Babylon")

Character Biography

Teal'c had heard that the elite Jaffa warrior group known as the Sodan were living on P9G-844. For thousands of years, the Sodan warriors had been legends among the Jaffa. Very few Jaffa of Teal'c's time had mastered the warrior art of the Sodan. After gaining their freedom from the Goa'uld, the new Free Jaffa Nation needed leadership, so SG-1 went to P9G-844 to find the Sodan and invite them to meet the Free Jaffa, but they were ambushed instead. The Sodan had the benefit of Ancient technology which gave them an advantage in the struggle — personal cloaking devices and a transporter device called the Eye of the Gods. During the ambush, Mitchell ordered the rest of his team to retreat to the Stargate while he covered their six. A lone Sodan warrior, Volnek, engaged Mitchell and both ended up injuring each other with Volnek's staff weapon.

Still under heavy fire from SG-22, the Sodan gathered up Mitchell and left Volnek behind, believing him to be mortally wounded. Once the remaining members of SG-1 arrived on the scene of the attack, they found Volnek was still alive, but the staff blast had gravely damaged Volnek's symbiote. They took him back to Earth to save his life and to trade him for Mitchell in a prisoner exchange.

Dr. Lam performed nine hours of surgery to repair the damage to Volnek's abdomen, but was unable to save his symbiote, so she put him on Tretonin. Once awake, Volnek showed no appreciation for the saving of his life. He would have preferred to have died on the battlefield — a more honorable death in his eyes. He judged Teal'c for being weak and without honor, leading his brethren astray by not following the warrior traditions.

After gaining some of his strength, Volnek became more open in talking with Teal'c and Daniel. Volnek told them that a Prior of the Ori had visited his planet and had pursuaded many of the Sodan who sought the Path to Enlightenment to turn to Origin, the Ori's religion. Instead of worshipping the Ancients as their gods, the Sodan turned to the Ori because the Ori showed themselves to them and demonstated their great powers.

Teal'c and Daniel wanted to get the code to the transporter device, the Eye of the Gods, from Volnek, but he refused. Realizing that Volnek had probably had training in resisting intense interrogation techniques, they attempted to convince him that the Ori are not gods and will eventually require the Sodan to kill innocent people who refuse them. They brought in a Jaffa named Tass'an from the planet Sartorus who witnessed the destruction of his planet and the deaths of many after his people refused the Ori. His advice to Volnek: "Heed my words, brother. If a Prior visits your world, leave." Volnek dismissed Tass'an's words. He judged Tass'an as a poor excuse for a Jaffa, and even after seeing footage of the devastation, refused to believe that the Ori had anything to do with the destruction.

Volnek spent two weeks with the people of the SGC. His brother, Jolan, helped Mitchell get home. When Volnek saw that Mitchell was still alive, he wanted to finish the battle they had started on P9G-844. Mitchell told him about his time with the Sodan and they parted in a rather strained way, but Volnek appeared to have gained some respect for Mitchell and his people after they proved themselves to be people of honor. His last words to Mitchell on the ramp in the gateroom were, "We will meet again."

Relations between Mitchell's Sodan friends and the SGC continued, and after realizing that the Ori were false gods, all of the Sodan rejected the Ori and their Priors. But, the Sodan did not live free of the Ori for long. While on a visit to a neighboring planet to gather supplies for his village, Volnek was met by a Prior who told him that the Sodan would pay for their betrayal. The Prior activated his staff and struck the ground with it, but Volnek himself didn't feel the effects until after he returned home and was there for several days. Volnek became a madman and soon thereafter, he became a dead man walking, a zombie, similar to the way the Honduran rebel Chalo had become one after his dead body was exposed to the effects of the Telchak Device. The same kind of technology was used by Anubis to give his Kull Warriors life. (9.18 "Arthur's Mantle")

Volnek went on a rampage to destroy the entire Sodan village, and he was successful at killing nearly everyone, including his own brother Jolan, the women, and the children. The only one who survived was Lord Haikon, the leader of the Sodan, who was discovered by Teal'c and SG-12 upon their arrival after receiving the Sodan's distress call through the Stargate. Haikon's symbiote was killed, and he was put on Tretonin right away. Volnek was tracked down and destroyed with explosives so that his body could no longer be reanimated. (9.18 "Arthur's Mantle")